Cuomo to student-loan companies: Shape up. Or I’ll sue you.

It turns out New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo won’t have to take legal action against eight student-loan companies who he said used “false and misleading advertising practices.”

The companies, Campus Door, EduCap, GMAC Bank, Graduate Loan Associates, Nelnet,  NextStudent and Xanthus Financial Services, agreed to a code of conduct today that banned

My Rich Uncle voluntarily agreed to the code.

Seven of the companies also agreed to pay a total of $1.4 million to help educate students and their families on the student loan and financial aid process.

In June, Cuomo’s office launched investigation into the companies’ practices, like luring student borrowers with cash and iPods and being dishonest about loan terms and benefits. Last week, he announced he would prepare a lawsuit against the companies because these practices broke state and federal laws.

Cuomo isn’t new to this game — he kicked off another major investigation last year, when he was the first to uncover conflicts of interest in the way lenders dealt with universities (like, I don’t know, lenders who paid universities to recommend their companies to students. Someone in public relations missed that red flag …)

Because of that, Cuomo developed a separate code of conduct  for lenders and universities that became the model for New York State’s SLATE, the Student Lending, Accountability, Transparency and Enforcement act.

Between SLATE and the new code, New York state students, at least, can sleep safe knowing they’re getting more complete knowledge about the loans they take out. Now if only Cuomo could figure out a way to reduce the cost of education … he wouldn’t have to regulate at all.

Odds & Ends: I found our new president, IC!

presidentPrez of William & Mary resigns. Board of Trustees, alum, state legislators (everyone, apparently) angry after he removed a cross from campus chapel and allowed a performance by “porn actors and strippers” on campus last week. That guy is awesome. We want him here when Peggy leaves.

College applications can be “too good,” article says. If you see the words “juxtaposition,” “endemic,” or “parochial” in an essay, chances are that daddy punched up Junior’s prose.

Wheaton College sued over study abroad costs. Lawyer dad sues over $4 grand tuition discrepancy, calls school “predatory,” is mostly just pissed because his daughter came home from S. Africa with a tattoo and a bad attitude, we think.

Union University rebuilding after tornado hit. It’s the third time the school has been damaged by twisters. This time, the bill is $47 million. Capital Campaign, anyone?

American student molested on Indian campus. “A drug crazed youth” who had stabbed a policeman last year “pounced on her.” Jail time for these people, maybe?

Cuban student denies being arrested for opposing commies. In video on government web site, says he wasn’t arrested, media is just making a big deal out of it. Sure. They got to him.

Colleges offer churches finance classes. After sneaky priests rob coffers, buy fancy cars, faithful decide to learn accounting. Some churchgoers reportedly still angry that churches considered businesses. Shut up and enjoy your tax-exempt status while it lasts.

(P.S. This is a new format College Ave. will be trying out for awhile. And yes, we shamelessly copied the style of this awesome web site. The Internet tubes are all about incomplete sentences. Get used to it. )

Financial Aid: The Opus

If you haven’t already, go ahead and read Munzer?s article in The Ithacan, and the editorial written today about the financial aid situation. Pay close attention to how tricky it is for a school like Ithaca. We?ll come back to this in a little.

We’ve seen a major financial aid overhaul get through Congress, and get signed by the President. It’s a nice idea, but it’s flawed. And it’s already a little too late, based on some recent announcements from big-name colleges. Its merits are good, no doubt. It attempts to add to the value of Pell Grant. (Although here?s an interesting question: Why are the funds authorized for 2013 only $105 million? By the by, over the 10 years there?s an average of $2.87 billion additional appropriated each year.) And it brings up this TEACH grant to help out current and prospective teachers.

Curiously, there?s nothing in there overhauling financial aid that will take care of the long (and largely unnecessary) process that is the FAFSA. In fact, the only time it?s even mentioned in the mile-long bill is under the College Access Challenge Grant Program, where help with the application is covered as a payment with the grant. Hm.

Read more

Thoughts on Loans and Financial Aid

Sorry for the long delay in posting, even though I know I’m not the only one reeling from all the work that has to be submitted before finals week (something to do with that Dec. 25 final grade submission… Thanks Registrar!) A little something meta on the blogs: We have a new comments policy that our commenters should all be aware of, so acquaint yourself with it. Now onto the important stuff:

A wolf in (Oregon) duck’s clothing: There’s this loan group from Florida that’s gotten into a lot of trouble from New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo. He’s investigated a bunch of other loan companies earlier this year for their dubious actions, which include cash for friend referrals and signups, but the most recent group, Student Financial Services, has been using team names, logos and mascots for their marketing to students.

Apparently not all universities keep the rights to their mascots, but have them through an intermediary group, so that’s how this loan company was able to use the marks (maybe that’s how Washburn University got an eerily similar logo to U. of Wisconsin?).? The Times reported that at least 17 have since suspended their arrangements with the group, and the Chronicle is reporting that the remainder, 63 in total, are also cutting their ties. Cuomo is also reportedly was working with the company to make an agreement so they don’t have to pay a penalty ? instead, they’ll have a code of conduct developed by the attorney general’s office.

Recapping other loan stuff: Munzer got to it earlier this week, but this Harvard financial aid thing is only the latest in universities taking financial aid into their own hands. In the middle of last month, the Chronicle (pay-walled) reported on three colleges in the Northeast that are doing away with loans for students. Williams College is getting rid of loans entirely from its financial aid packages, and Colby and Wesleyan are doing similar things to reduce their burdens.

The Harvard situation is merely an extension of their 2004 initiative to help those coming from lower economic backgrounds in staying in college. It’s a wonderful idea, and while I question the need for such deep discounts to the children of six-figure breadwinners, solving the cost problem is an issue the industry needs to answer ? and they’ve been terrible about doing so.

There are good reasons why college costs so much, especially here (something about the first major capital campaign in a 116-year history…). Some colleges, like Williams, are doing smart things. Even at Ithaca, students rise the the occasion, such as the HEOP program with Lobby Day [disclosure: I worked for Academic Enrichment Services last year]. When students get into hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt when they graduate with degrees in English or Outdoor Adventure Leadership, it’s a pretty scary situation. Or, they don’t even make it past their first semester here. And when college seems to be the prerequisite and no longer an honor, it needs to become more affordable.

Something completely different: Can Antioch stop losing steam? There’s now a plan being set in motion to separate Antioch College from the associated university system to address the many issues that plague the institution. At first glance it sounds like a terrible idea, considering that the whole system started with the undergrad program. While I’m sure the Antioch College Continuation Corporation would have the college’s best interests at heart, especially with some very passionate people ? who wouldn’t give money when the agreement to save Antioch was penned last month ?? it moves the burden off the current administration of the Antioch in a dangerous way. Furthermore, it doesn’t help that as of Tuesday, the payment agreement made last month is no longer in effect [via Chronicle]. And what’s worse, if the transfer does happen, it’s most likely the school will have to get accreditation, since it won’t be the old Antioch.

Roundup: Oops! edition

Suing a master: So MIT is suing Frank Gehry, claiming flaws in the $300 million Stata Center have caused mold to grow, allows snow to block emergency exits, and injures small children invites leaks. I’ve never seen this except in pictures, and while it looks pretty beautiful to me, it’s also fairly obvious that there could be some design issues that might cause things like leaks and the dropping of snow (Globe architect critic Robert Campbell echoes these thoughts). Boston University president emeritus John Silber, who’s quoted in the article calling the building “a disaster,” wrote a book about how much he hates it … and maybe Gehry too? ? “Architecture of the Absurd: How ‘Genius’ Disfigured a Practical Art.”

On one of the Chronicle’s blogs, there’s a comment from an MIT faculty member who is enamored with the building despite its flaws. And there is also concern from architects about what good suing an architect will do. The article in The Chronicle (behind the pay wall) also brings up the classic debate of boring yet functional vs. inspirational but problematic. (I’d say hello, anybody ever hear of Louis I. Kahn? Beautiful yet functional.)

On this campus I’d say we have a bit of a bias towards boring buildings, or maybe just ugly buildings. I think it’s starting to change with this new business school (that I’m personally coining Dotty Hall) and maybe the fieldhouse Athletics and Events Center.

So about saving Antioch… Some of the alumni are not too happy about that deal they struck the other day to “save” Antioch College. In a not-so-surprising move, alumni are claiming (Chronicle ? watch that pay wall) the Board of Trustees made out like a bandit with their vague wording. It sounds like the alumni were hoping there’d be some changes and a lot more control than they are getting, particularly in a new governing board. So they’ll sit on their money until they see something real happen. Makes sense to me.

Oh, and apparently Antioch is using some of the money to repay other universities in their system instead of making the college better? So they’re not happy about that either.

Average Sophomore = DRUNKEN MESS: No comment.

Your turn to Oops! This is completely unrelated to the previous briefs or higher education in general ? except for maybe higher-order thinking ? but a new collaborative weather site has been launched. It’s called cumul.us, and it lets you predict the weather. Very neat concept. I’m thinking about joining it (what’s yet another social network when Facebook is shilling you out?), and if you’re from Ithaca here’s the link ? but you should be able to change it wherever you are.

The little college that could

An amazing story out in Ohio with Antioch College, the flagship institution of Antioch University that was facing closure until today. The college, which in June announced its plan to close by July 2008 for a minimum of four years to “Design [a] 21st Century Campus,” will stay open in the interim ? with a few ifs.

I’d been quietly following this story for the past six months, watching with fascination how the Antioch Alumni Association has been rallying to keep their college alive by contributing money to a College Revival Fund. So far, the Alumni Board has raised almost $18 million in gifts and pledges. Their motto for the revival, “Be ashamed to let it die,” is a fantastic reworking of the college’s motto, founder Hoarce Mann’s own words from his last commencement address in 1859: “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”

The deal is a little tricky, because it amounts to (with the Board of Trustees’ supposed help) a series of payments, starting with $2 million in the next 10 days, another $4.6 million by Dec. 15, $12 million more by the end of May 2008, and two more payments in 2009 and 10. Of course, this is only the beginning: It looks like job cuts and demolition will also be on the way.

?An enormous amount of work remains to be done,? said Alumni Board President Crow, ?but we are energized and ready to rise to this challenge. Our goal is nothing less than the regeneration of Antioch College as a leader and innovator in liberal arts education.”

However, not everybody is glad to see this plan happen. In an article on Inside Higher Ed, sophomore Jeanne Kay, who is the co-editor of Antioch’s student newspaper The Record, found the agreement problematic. “I wish this announcement could be something to celebrate, but it’s not.” She laments the (while understandable, frustrating) lack of knowledge of how widespread these faculty cuts will be. “We are already running at minimum operations,” Kay said.

I can’t blame her for feeling this way. While I think the campaign to save is brave on the part of the alumni board, it appears to be a power-grab for the Board of Trustees. In their combined statement, the Alumni Board agreed to the plan for financial exigency, which will lead to job cuts (which could lead to the loss of entire departments because of such a small number of faculty) and the destruction of buildings. Even worse, the Board of Trustees is not making any attempt to recruit new students to the college despite a plan to keep the facilities open, citing the need to improve facilities and revamp curricula.

At the top, Antioch has had a lot of trouble too. Former college president Steve Lawry had only been on the job for 16 months before announcing his decision in July to step down in January 2008 ? and then left Antioch not even two months later. While Interim President Andrzej Bloch has over two decades of experience at Antioch, it’s an uphill battle. What’s worse, this may have a deeper impact on the Yellow Springs community. If you can find your way behind the pay wall, this in-depth analysis by the Chronicle from the end of June is really worth reading.

This little college still can, but they need a lot of help. Those who are there now should be thankful for their passionate alumni, who have already given a lot and will give a lot more before they let the college die. Still, at moments like these it feels like too little, too late.

College students are poor and getting poorer

Big news today coming from higher education ? apparently college costs are rising at more than double the amount of inflation. I’m not exactly surprised; increases at Ithaca College over the past five years have been near or over 5 percent, and last year’s $1,838 tuition increase closed in on 7%.

What might be more shocking ? okay, it’s not, but humor me here ? is that student aid hasn’t risen to meet this challenge. The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting (behind their pay wall, sorry) that we’re now taking out more private loans, up to 25 percent from 6 percent in 1997, and that federal aid covers less than half of aid. The report also states that public and in-state costs are soaring faster than private costs, so if you’re going to Ithaca from New Jersey, I guess you’re not making out so badly. There are many who think the rise in private loans is questionable at best. Here’s a great line from a former Clinton education adviser:

“I hate to even call it ‘financial aid.’ We don’t call a loan to buy a car ‘financial aid,’” said Mr. Shireman, who was a senior education-policy adviser in the Clinton administration. “They have a much heavier drag on a college graduate just entering the work force.”

The Chronicle also has a huge (pay-wall locked again, sorry) tuition database that makes comparison between other schools easy (in turn making our reporting easier when the college drops its new tuition numbers in the spring). Ithaca doesn’t look too bad in it, near the top of the pack but far enough away: top 30s in most categories for New York in the past year.

I think Ithaca’s spot in the tuition rankings is safe for the administration, but I don’t understand why we get U.S. News awards for our undergrad “value.” We’re still in the top 200 in the country for tuition this year, and while it’s lower than other big-name schools (we’re slightly ahead of Julliard in costs), it’s problematic.

Ithaca’s walking a dangerous line. We don’t provide enough liberal arts training to be a top-tier institution, and we’re not (nor should we be) specific enough to cater the way niche schools do

This is just me speculating, but once we go over $30K in tuition ? which will almost certainly happen for the 2008-09 year ? and well over 40 grand in costs, I think students are going to look for those bigger value schools. When a student can get a more specialized education at an arts and design school, or Julliard, they stop looking at the unique blend of education we serve here. The only way Ithaca can stay ahead ? without simply slowing the pace of its increases ? to provide the right kind of financial incentives for students to choose to come to South Hill.

As for me, I’m just glad I didn’t go to the most expensive private four-year in the nation for the past three years like a certain twin I know:
Haha GWU

Your morning buzz kill

In the true spirit of college, let?s start off this year with a toast ? to tattling on underage drinking?

So talk about a wake up call. The New York Times reported yesterday on the University of Wisconsin?s two-year old policy that requires its deans to call the parents of any students sent to a ?detox center? for excessive drinking. If they?re just ticketed for violating policy, it?s an option threat the dean can use when punishing the student.

While this may sound like rabid paternalism on the part of the university, don?t be fooled.

?We?re not calling home to tattle,? said Tonya Schmidt, an interim assistant dean of students. ?We?re calling to ask parents to be partners with us. We are saying that we?re concerned, and want to work on your child making better choices for the future.?

Suuuure. You?re just out to make sure the Princeton Review never again names UW the top party school in the nation like they did in 2005, Ms. Schmidt.

After two years, how is the policy working, one might ask? According to the Badger Herald, UW?s campus newspaper, not at all.

In an article published last week, the paper spilled some embarrassing numbers all over the tattling policy.

?Last year alone, the UW Police Department cited more than 1,500 students for alcohol-related problems, a 72-percent increase compared to the 881 ticketed just two years ago.?

Without other context, it almost looks like the policy is backfiring. Almost. Oh wait, it is.

So could this new ? for lack of a better word ? tattling policy spread to other institutions of higher learning? Why, yes! In fact, the article says that similar policies already exist at St. Lawrence University and Ohio Northern University. Oh God. The University of Minnesota and Penn state are apparently ?studying? the approach, which is to say they?re probably figuring out how to implement it without inciting a riot.

Our very own Ithaca College has its own tattling policy, of sorts: off-campus ?problem? houses that receive excessive tickets for drinking and partying get their very own meeting with the administration and a letter home.

Ithaca College administration, please don?t get any more ideas. Leave those silly freshmen with their 30-packs of Keystone Light in the Towers parking lot alone. Mom and Dad just don?t want to know ? I guarantee it.

In summary: the only thing worse than getting a call from your friends that goes something like ?Do you know what you DID last night?? is getting that same call from YOUR MOM.

But seriously, folks, these developments do bring some interesting issues to the table: are students adults yet, or still children? Is it right for college administrations to go above students and alert their parents to potentially self-harming activity? Let College Ave know - because we report, and you decide.

Roundup: Meet the new boss

Score for press freedom: College Publisher, the way most people read most (but not, ahem, all) college newspapers, backed down on a little-known and never-enforced clause in their contract. In exchange for providing newspapers with the back-end management of their website, the students were barred from writing disparaging remarked about College Publisher and its owner (drumroll, please!), Viacom, the owner of pretty much any channel a college student would watch. Ka Leo, the student daily out of University of Hawaii at Manoa, refused to sign their CP contract based on those grounds, and College Publisher relented. Now if only college presidents would get off our backs. [Via The Wired Campus]

A man of his word: New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is filing a suit against Education Finance Partners, claiming those kickbacks he promised earlier are real. What I found most interesting was Texas Christian University using the old those-aren’t-kickbacks-those-are-like-scholarships-for-students routine. A likely story, you silly horned frogs.

bilde.jpgPrincessGate update: America’s favorite dog torturer, Alex Atkind, will face felony charges of aggravated cruelty to animals if Tompkins County DA Gwen Wilkinson gets her wish. His bond, set at a princely $20K, is bad enough, but being quoted as pleading to your mom “Get me out. Get me out. Today.” can’t help his case here. Especially not with the commenters on Elliott Back’s blog. Prison rape jokes? Sheesh.